Degrees of Separation
by TyLeeChan
Summary: Aftermath: They had always been together. From the orbital cycle they were cut from the same protoform they had never been apart. Nothing could have prepared them for this. Transformers Animated, TFA, Jetfire and Jetstorm


**Ugh...I worked pretty hard on this, and I really like the story...but I feel it is lacking writing quality...oh well, I'm not the best at writing combat or dialouge, and that is a majority of this Oneshot, which is also the longest Oneshot I've ever done. This is based mostly on 5 Servos of Doom, Decepticon Air, and The comic TFA Arrival #6. It is actually officially non-canon after Decepticon Air, but I thought up the story before Predacons Rising...but I was writing other stuff at the time. Besides, theonly thing noncannon about it is the fact that Swindle and Lugnut were still on the Elite Guard's ship during this...so yeah, other than that pretty cannonical (is that a word?). There are a BUNCH of refs to the Arrival #6, and if you haven't read it you probably won't understand it... you can read a summary here on my fave site TFWiki .com/wiki/The_Arrival_issue_6 or you could just read this play-by-play summary I just made: The twins died as car-bots, Perceptor made them Jet-bots, Perceptor puts them in a combat simulation with a simulation Starscream, Starscream beats up Jetstorm, Jetfire finds his fire-power in his anger and gets himself completly on fire, both in the sim and in real life, Jetstorm wakes up and finds his wind power and equals out his fire to drench it out, turn into Safeguard for the first time to beat sim Starscream. There. Now you are caught up. **

**The twins were hard to write, because of their accents and stuff...so it may be a little unrealistic there becuase it was hard. I did my best!! I** **did write their 'w's as 'v's since they are Russian and such. I don't write it like that in my fancomics, but I felt being very show-accurate this time around XD. Besides, there is a bit of an accent war between Jetfire and Blitzwing into the comic, so yeah XD**

**My combat writing is HORRENDOUS!!! Please don't judge it on that, there is a very emotional underlying value thing in the story, the fighting is just part of it...**

**Please review!!!! **

**Rated Teen for Cybertronian Cursing (Slag) and Violence and Torture.**

* * *

Jetfire stretched his servos as he walked off the Elite Guard's ship. It had been a pretty long flight, but they had made it. Not without too many complaints, but they had made it. All the `cons were still onboard too. That was an improvement from the last flight. Apparently the Decepticon they had captured escaped. But he wouldn't have known. He wasn't exactly online then.

His twin raced down to the ground to meet up with him.

"Is it not good to be being back on Cybertron?" Jetstorm asked, raising an arm towards the sky. Jetfire shrugged and looked away. He knew he could hide nothing from his brother, but he still tried. "Are you missing Earth?"

"Vell, brother…" He smiled sheepishly, "Cybertron is not having video games."

Ah…Video games. One of the highlights of his trip to Earth. As soon as the two of them had seen Bumblebee playing them they fell in love. He had learned the controls and techniques a bit faster than his brother, which was odd. What was even odder was the fact that Jetstorm never played as well as him. Jetfire was always K.O.-ing him, even when he dummied down to let him win. They had always shared the same talents before, one never being better than the other. Oh well. There was a first for everything. Nevertheless, Jetstorm enjoyed them, and gave a wry smile at their mention.

"How very true. Perhaps ve should acquire some upon our next visit." He paused mischievously, "That Sari-girl vas not looking half as bad to revisit either…"

"Do not be speaking of Sari like that!" Jetfire blushed, "Besides, Bumblebee is fancying her."

"How are you knowing that?"

"They are not, as you say, 'hiding it under rock'." His faceplate continued to burn for a second, but died down momentarily. He had only short encounters with Sari, and that was his first real interactions with a girl that he could remember. He didn't know exactly what to think of her. But it was true; Bumblebee did make some actions that suggested attraction.

_Racing vould be good now_…He felt his twin's thoughts surge through his own. He turned and their viz scanners met for a nanoclick. They smiled simultaneously. Jetstorm pointed towards the buildings to their left.

"Last `bot there is being piece of slag!" He exclaimed. Quickly, the two of them transformed and flew up, away from the Elite Guard headquarters. They rose high above the buildings and sped forward, neck-and-neck.

Jetfire was glad that that they were still able to race and have fun. He had been afraid that being on active duty on Earth would turn the two of them into cold-hearted military `bots. He heard that Sentinel went to a strange organic planet and came back a bit high strung. But then again, he still had his fun. So did Jazz, and he had been to Earth as well. But the fear had still crept in. Not only that, but it had been their first real mission as Elite Guard members.

Of course, he actually discovered more fun on his excursion to Earth. Video games being the most important. Bumblebee was the resident expert on fun on that planet. Sari knew a bit too, but not as much as the yellow `bot. Everything from practical jokes to making musical notes with his servo-pit, he could do it all. It made himself and his brother ashamed that they accidentally attacked him while he was stuck looking like Wasp.

Jetstorm had accelerated ahead of him, a stream of air flying out of his jets. Jetfire took advantage of this, catching the air and riding it until he caught up. As he passed his brother he tilted slightly, sending a gleam of light reflected from his cockpit into his viz scanners. Jetstorm cried out in shock and slowed down a bit to regain his sight. Jetfire laughed.

It was strange that they would have any time to race, or do anything worthless and time-consuming for that matter. They had just returned to their home planet from a mission on Earth. Their leader, Ultra Magnus, was in recovery after a murderous Decepticon assassination plot. And yet Perceptor had insisted they have some recreation time upon arrival.

_"You two have had quite an adventure. I do believe some rest would do you some good." _

Perceptor was usually a bit softer on the two of them. It made sense; they were online because of him. He probably felt like an organic-father feels with his protoforms. But this was a little extreme. They should be debriefed or something. It only made sense for the protocol. And what would Sentinel think of their goofing off in the middle of a possible crisis? Then again, Sentinel did have a _lot_ on his servos at the time. He would probably never know what they were doing.

Sentinel was still in the ship. Jazz and he were checking some transmissions that had recently arrived. Perceptor was there too, doing some diagnostics on the ship and acquiring the codes of all the Decepticons onboard. Oddly enough, it seemed that nobot was outside at all. As Jetfire flew to the said building for the race, he noticed the city felt empty. Something wasn't right.

Jetfire easily reached the building before his brother. Jetstorm wasn't very amused.

"Cheater!"

"Hm? Vat are you trying to say, brother?" He smirked. "I think that it vas just me being faster and much more cleverer than you."

"Oh yah!? I vill be beating you back to the ship before you be saying 'Sentinel jives'." Jazz had taught them that one. They were not quite sure what half of Jazz's words meant, but they were very fun to say.

"You are most definitely on!" Jetfire turned around and began his flight back to the ship. He quickly accelerated to the highest speed possible and hoped Jetstorm hadn't done the same. Of course, Jetstorm knew what he was planning and soon they were flying at the same speed. They could never hide anything from each other. Sari explained it as "twin telepathy", but said she had only witnessed it with organics. It was an anomaly, Perceptor diagnosed. To the both of them it was both a gift and an annoyance.

Halfway back to the ship the two of them were neck and neck. Every so often Jetfire would be slightly ahead of his brother, but Jetstorm would quickly jump on him and they would return tied again.

"I am seeing that you are all talking and no showing." Jetstorm taunted.

"Oh, this?" Jetfire fumbled for an excuse, "This is just me slowing down for you so that you are thinking that you are vinning." His twin remained silent for a moment.

"Is that really the best you can be giving me, brother?"

"I am trying to concentrate on my vinning. It is very hard to be doing that _and_ making up -"

He wasn't able to complete his sentence. An explosion in front of the twins careened them backwards, each smashing into a building.

Jetfire responded speedily, transforming into robot mode and sliding down to the ground. He assessed the damage. His right servo felt funny, but other than that he had obtained nothing but minor scratches. That wasn't important, though. He had to find his brother and figure out the reason for the explosion.

He walked over to the nearby structure and found Jetstorm sitting down in a little crater that the combined forces of the blast and his body had created. He had also reverted to his robot form and was looking himself over. After a thorough examination, he gave a 'thumbs-up' signal that Bumblebee had shown them. Then he winced.

"Your servo," He ran over and gently touched the servo that had bothered Jetfire earlier. Jetfire's viz scanners widened and he cried out in pain, "It's crushed. It must have happened when you vere making heavy contact vith the building."

"How vere you knowing?"

"I could feel it." He replied with a serious look on his faceplate. Jetfire nodded, knowing what had occurred.

They had only been online for a short time after Perceptor had resuscitated them into the jets they now were. They had shown evidence of 'twin telepathy' before that, but it only strengthened after their modifications. Now, it seemed, they could not only share thoughts, but pain as well.

"It is nothing but small dent," Jetfire waved off his brother's concern, "I vill manage." Jetstorm looked hurt, and he immediately regretted those words. Of course, both of them knew he didn't truly mean them.

"So, then, vat is explanation for big kaboom?" His twin asked, bringing them back to the current events. Already knowing the direction from which it came, they turned toward it. They could see smoke. It was coming from…

"The ship!" They cried at the same time. Without a nanoclick of hesitation, they transformed and flew toward the smoking hulk.

Realization struck Jetfire as hard as the explosion had earlier. If the ship was attacked, that could very well mean that the inhabitants inside were greatly injured. They would have to arrive quickly in order to keep them online. Sentinel. Jazz. Perceptor. And the…

"Decepticons moving very fast in our direction!" Jetstorm cried. Sure enough, four `cons were flying right to them and one was driving. Jetfire didn't remember their names. Sentinel had always referred to them as 'the `cons' or ridiculous nicknames instead of their actual given ones. He had been trying to make it appear like he was in control.

Now apprehending the Decepticons had prevalence over arriving at the ship. It made his spark ache, but Jetfire knew that even if they saved their friends first, the Decepticons would probably just cause more damage to them in the end. Besides, if they hurried slagging them they could have time to go back to their original priority.

"Should ve first be slagging the ground-fixed `con or the flying `cons?" He asked.

"I vill be being much faster to take down flying `cons first. You take the smaller `con, I vill take the bigger `con, and ve vill combine in the end to be defeating the last two."

"Okie to the Dokie, brother!" He watched Jetstorm fly over to his target while he moved to his own. Before going to Earth, he would have wondered how to keep the other two busy while they brought down the first. After their fight with the Dinobots, however, they knew that they could take down larger foes quickly. No doubt they would bring down their first foes way before the others knew what happened.

The jet he was going to attack noticed that he had marked him and sped up.

"So, ze flying Autobot sinks zat he can defeat Blitzwing?" He asked, obviously supposed to be rhetorical on his part. Oh, the irony!

"Oh, I am being quite certain 'zat' I can do more than 'zat'." Jetfire retorted, mocking his accent. He knew that he had a rather strong accent as well, but this 'Blitzwing' just sounded ridiculous.

"**All right! You asked for it, Autobot!"** His voice lowered several decibels with a bit of gruffness. As soon as he did so, though, he transformed from a jet to a tank. He seemed about as surprised as Jetfire. _"Oh slag! I did it again!" _

Jetfire took advantage of this. He landed and changed into robot before Blitzwing crashed. Lifting his servos high, he focused his energon and created a blast of fire.

"Be ready to eat 'zis', Decepticon!" He twirled it about and hurled it up. It caught Blitzwing and he flew backwards, colliding into the ground. Jetfire knew that it wasn't enough for him to be down for good. He saw Blitzwing rise, now in robot mode. He looked rather serious compared to his earlier statements.

"Hit me again, Decepticon wanna-be. I dare you." He taunted, his voice returning to normal. That hurt. He was referring to his ability to fly, which only brought back bad memories. He didn't let it phase him.

"Fine vith me!" He started forming another fireball. If the `con wanted to get it, he would get it. When he was about to release it when ice surrounded his right servo and pinned him to a piece of debris. He yelped in shock. Blitzwing had done more damage than he thought. His injury agitated under the ice.

"_Hahaha! I bet zat you 'veren't' expecting to have such an icy rejection!" _Jetfire watched as his head swiveled around in his helmet. The serious-looking faceplate was quickly replaced by a crazy one. What kind of Decepticon was this? He could transform into two vehicle modes, and he deduced from the voices he had three separate faceplates. How strange! His head swiveled once more, revealing his angry faceplate, **"Now I 'vill' destroy you for 'vasting' mein time!"**

He transformed into his tank mode and turned his gun toward Jetfire. Frantically, he tried to melt the ice with his own fire. The flames caused the ice to decrease, but too slowly. Blitzwing was preparing to fire. Finally, he wrenched his servo free from the encasing and tumbled to the side in anticipation of the impact. Only, it wasn't the impact that either he or Blitzwing thought it would be.

The ground shook fervently under Jetfire and he transformed into a jet to avoid the quake. Soon the face of the planet that was in front of him collapsed, creating a giant crater. Fumes flew up in reply to the destruction. He saw Blitzwing being thrown up into the air.

"_Well Lugnut, now we know what we need to work on in your attack plan – Your aim!" _He cried as he flew out of sight. Jetfire sighed. Well, that was one Decepticon down, even if he didn't know how it happened.

Jetstorm landed in the crater, motioning for Jetfire to come down. He transformed and met him.

"Vere is your `con being?" Jetfire asked.

"Under that pile of slag over there." Jetstorm pointed, "He vas trying to be being a tough `con and destroying me vith a giant punch. Unfortunately for him, his shot missed, and he buried himself. Vere's is yours being?"

"Let's just be saying that he ran away." Jetfire answered with a smile. He suddenly felt a slight twitch of pain in his stabilizing servo, but he didn't think much of it. He was puzzled. They beat those `cons a little too easy, even for them.

"Then vere are the other two being?" They looked around. The other jets were nowhere in sight. The car was gone too, but he was landlocked and could be found easily. The jets could fly off and regroup with Megatron.

"We're not over here!" An all-too-familiar voice rang out from behind them. Jetfire froze. It couldn't be. He spun around. It was. Starscream!

Immediately, his memory core infiltrated his processor. He saw the simulation Starscream holding his unconscious brother…

"_You Autobots want to fly, do you? Go long!" _

…and throw him into the side of the building like a piece of scrap metal. He cringed as the memories flew past. He remembered his horror and anger. He remembered how afraid he was that he would have to face Starscream again. If anything ever happened to his brother, anything, he didn't know what he would do. This only made him more ashamed for snapping at him earlier.

Jetstorm looked over and saw his twin's fearful expression.

_Is okay, brother. Be looking, it is not really him. It is being one of the clones ve had in custody. See? He is being colored-off. And there is the other colored-off one coming beside him._

He was right. Now standing before the two of them were two Starscreams, completely identical except for color schemes. Jetfire was embarrassed. He knew that they had some Starscream clones in detention. And yet, everything about this seemed unreal already, it wouldn't have been odd if the real Starscream had just flown into the scene.

"Oh, brave and noble Autobots!" The yellow clone began, "It is a true pleasure to have opponents as strong and magnificent as you two! I am honored to be able to bask in your presence. I will try my best not to scratch that beautiful paint job of yours."

"And I promise I won't attack you!" The white `con said eagerly.

"Brother, ve have fought this `con before." Jetfire pointed to the white clone.

"You didn't tell me that your splendor has already engaged in a grand show of combat with the skilled fliers!" The other clone seemed upset.

"I already told you. I've never seen these Autobots in my life."

"Yes, I am remembering him as vell. Did not Prowl say that…"

"…'all he is saying is lie'?" Jetfire ended the thought.

"What? I _never _lie! But I am unhappy to tell you that my aim is poor!" The Liar shot his servos forward, revealing his guns. Instantly, a spray of ammo burst out. The twins dodged the shots with a few cartwheels.

"Good try, glorious Ramjet. Perhaps my feeble attempts at hitting them will somehow succeed." The sycophant clone copied 'Ramjet' and sent Jetfire and Jetstorm to the ground in order to escape injury.

"I am thinking that Safeguard vould be being good now!" Jetfire said in distress. Jetstorm nodded.

They started the combination transformation normally, nothing obscure at all. But as soon as their stabilizing servos combined, Jetstorm cried out in pain and reverted back to robot mode.

"Something is vrong!" He informed. The Starscreams came forward to attack, but Jetfire created a ring of fire around the twins to keep them at bay.

"Stretch out your stabilizing servo so I can be seeing." He obeyed, "Your…your jet engine…it is not being there!" Jetstorm winced. With only one engine he couldn't fly. He couldn't turn into Safeguard.

"It seems that ve are both being injured today then, huh?" He gave a weak smile, "So, ve should take them separate again, brother…"

Jetfire's spark leaped. The last time they fought a Starscream, the only way they could beat it was with Safeguard. Now that Safeguard was out of the picture, they had to defeat _two_ Starscreams. How could they do it? Would they survive?

"Be…Being careful, brother…" Jetfire replied, repealing the flames surrounding them.

"Your strategy is both bold and daring. Strong Ramjet, if you don't mind, I would like to take the orange one with the vibrant firepower." The sycophant said.

"I'll take him too!" Ramjet exclaimed, transforming and flying toward Jetstorm.

The sycophant threw a few detonators at Jetfire as he approached him. He countered with a flamethrower, which caused them to explode midair. The smoke from the blast enveloped the two of them. Jetfire cautiously stepped to the right, hoping to emerge in the clearing before his foe. Instead, he was greeted with searing pain in his right servo. He screamed, helpless as the clone lifted him off the ground, a hard grip on his injury.

"I am sorry, esteemed Autobot, but I noticed your illustrious war-wound and had to take advantage of it." He sneered.

"You…can hurt me…all you vant…but you cannot be defeating the both of us." Jetfire replied defiantly between gasps of pain. The clone seemed to consider this.

"Your unyielding intelligence impresses me. Oh, wise Ramjet, destroy the handsome blue `bot."

Cybertron froze for Jetfire. Jetstorm. His brother. More than that, his twin. They were going to turn him offline.

"I'm not listening to you!!" Ramjet called, and Jetfire could hear him transforming back to robot.

_Jetstorm! Look out! They are…they are_

_I'm fine. Don't go and start doing anything-_

His brother's thoughts were cut off by the sounds of explosions and gunfire.

With a yell, Jetfire leaned his head forward and shot fire from it, blasting it into the sycophant's face. The clone stepped back and cried out, but didn't loosen his hold on the `bot. He wriggled in his grasp and kicked against the `con's chestplate to escape. This resulted in the sycophant falling backwards, and Jetfire felt a sharp crack.

He was free. He had fallen on his gearshaft from the force it took for him to kick-off, but other than that he seemed fine. Until he heard the sparks.

Jetfire looked down at himself and saw that he was not fine. There was a stub of metal where his servo once was, sparks and energon leaking freely from the open wound. The sycophant rose from the ground and looked in shock at the disassembled servo that he firmly grasped.

"How did you…?" He asked, dumbfounded. Jetfire didn't reply, and quickly ran over to where he saw Ramjet. Missing a servo wasn't that bad. He knew once he was out of his combat thinking he would be horrified, but now it didn't matter. His brother could be in far worse condition.

Ramjet was walking toward the pile of debris where 'Lugnut' was buried. Jetfire couldn't see where Jetstorm was.

_Brother, vat is being vrong vith your servo?_ Jetfire sighed in relief. His brother's concern showed that he was still online and well enough to feel his pain.

_That is not being important now. Vere are you? _

_Vat do you mean, 'that is not being'-_

There was the sound of clanking metal. Ramjet turned triumphantly.

"I can't see you." He taunted. This was accompanied by several shots directed toward another pile of debris to his left. Immediately, Jetstorm somersaulted out of the way of the bullets, and out of his hiding spot behind the debris. He threw an air whip at Ramjet, who got dust in his viz scanners.

The twins saw each other, and Jetstorm's jaw dropped at the sight of his servo. This gave Ramjet enough time to regain his sight and swat his target, flinging him into the pile of debris that he had previously been hiding behind.

"Wiggle more, I won't hit you!" He called in anger. Jetstorm didn't answer. Nor did he move.

_Jetstorm? JETSTORM!?_

Jetfire's thoughts rang out with no one to respond. He was either unconscious. Or worse. Not again!

"You vill be first hitting me!" He cried, flames shooting out of his only servo. It simply rebounded off of Ramjet's back armor, but it caught his attention. He turned around, only to have Jetfire ram into him in jet mode. It pushed him back a bit, but the clone quickly caught the nose of the aircraft and stopped it from accelerating.

Ramjet threw him into the same debris pile and he landed on top of Jetstorm. He transformed to robot and rolled over. He tried to get up, but found his processor was taking awhile to transmit his thoughts to his body parts. It was like a weight was holding him down.

He turned and saw Jetstorm stir, calming his fears of being offline. But if he hadn't distracted Ramjet long enough, he would've gotten his perfect shot.

The clone loomed over Jetfire and seemed to ponder a moment. What was he looking at so intently? A horrid grin crept over his face.

"Sunstorm, I'm terribly sorry, but I will completely follow your plan you gave me." He shouted to his comrade. Sunstorm didn't respond, still in shock because of his burnt face and Jetfire's servo.

Jetfire wondered what he meant. He soon figured it out when Ramjet's servo reached into his chestplate. He didn't have time to shout, the pain overwhelming. Then it went black.

"JETFIRE!!" He heard his twin scream. Jetfire smiled. He was conscious again. Jetstorm would make it. He had saved him.

Even if it cost him his own life.

* * *

Jetstorm watched, helpless as the lying clone reached in and ripped out his brother's still-beating spark. This couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be happening. He heard himself screaming his twin's name, begging it to stop. But it didn't.

The clone stared at the spark for a nanoclick, and crushed it in his servo with barely any effort.

Jetstorm cried in horror. The physical pain he was feeling in response to his brother was tremendous, but it didn't compare to the emotional wear he was taking on. His spark was squeezing in on him. He looked and saw his twin, the color draining from his body. He was gone. He wasn't coming back.

Anger replaced the anguish. He raised his head to see the liar, who looked rather pleased with himself. His expression made Jetstorm sick. Before he realized what happened he was on top of the clone, servos pounding into his faceplate.

"You monster! You slagged, sickening, cold-hearted monster!!" He bawled as he continued the hits. "Vy? Vy!? VY!?" He lifted his arm to keep on going, but stopped. He was exhausting himself.

"Please continue! It doesn't hurt one iota!" The liar protested.

"I should…I should be destroying you the vay you did my brother…" He gritted his teeth, keeping himself from doing the very thing he was suggesting. But then he saw Jetfire's face in his processor. Would he want him to do that? Would he want him to stoop to his murderer's level?

"I totally agree."

"But…that vould only make me vorse monster than you…" He frowned, "Go. Fly fast as you can. Get out of my sight before I am changing my mind." The liar's viz scanner's widened in what seemed delight. He quickly transformed and began to fly up.

Then Jetstorm created the biggest windblast in his life.

It carried the clone high in the sky and blew him into space until Jetstorm couldn't see him anymore.

"Do not expect to have such luck next ve meet." He muttered. A cry caused him to twirl around, and he saw the other clone behind him, lifting a blunt object over his head which he obviously intended to use as a weapon. Jetstorm slunk to the side, avoiding the blow. As soon as it hit the ground he grabbed it and wrenched it from the clone's servos. It was then he saw the condition of his faceplate.

The clone's face was scarred, obviously from burns. His viz scanners were impossible to distinguish from the rest of his faceplate. Jetstorm smiled. This was the work of his brother.

He swallowed back the emotions wallowing up and proceeded to hit the clone with his own weapon. It knocked him over, and before he could strike again the clone raised his servo in defense.

"Wait! Please hear my pitiful defense, oh sovereign Autobot." He begged. Jetstorm stopped and stared, "I promise I won't hurt your delicate yet strong structure. I'll leave your refined and now renowned presence and follow my much better clone's path."

"And vat if you lie like him?" He squinted.

"The one quality that my unworthy being possesses that he lacks is truth." He smiled sincerely, which looked rather revolting on his mauled faceplate.

"Vat about…your sense of seeing?" He regretted this feeling of compassion for the Decepticon. It seemed impossible for him to navigate far with his viz scanners like that.

"Oh, you mean my minor scratches your mighty brother gave me? Well, I've managed to survive in this lowly form so far."

"Then go." The clone nodded and transformed, following his fellow Starscream into the sky. Jetstorm didn't bother giving him a boost of air. He had the `con's word, which wasn't much but still added to something.

He remained motionless for a nanoclick. Then he looked to see what was truly in his hand. When he realized what it was he almost dropped it.

It was a servo. Jetfire's servo. The suck-up clone must have torn it off in battle. So that's what happened to it. His spark churned inside of him. He had to give it back to his brother. It was the only way. In his death he must be remembered as he was…all of him.

Why? Why did he do it? Everything had happened so fast, he didn't even consider his own brother's actions. He had done it on purpose. He let the liar turn him offline. But to what avail? Could he really have done it…just to save him? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

"Don't you realize that you going leaves me being here all alone!?" He screamed to the sky. There was no answer. He didn't expect one.

He turned and began a slow walk back to where his brother's body lay. He was surprised to see a robot hunched over it, his servos moving quickly. He moved closer, hoping maybe it was a `bot coming to help, seeing all of the destruction and hearing the battle. He got close enough to further distinguish his form.

Only then did he realize that it was one of the Decepticons that they had had on the ship.

The purple `con was whistling to himself as he poked around inside Jetfire's chestplate. Jetstorm's anger rose when he saw him take out a piece of machinery from inside of his brother and place it inside his own compartment.

"Vat do you think you are doing!?" He asked, gently dropping Jetfire's servo next to his body. This effectively got the `con's attention, and he looked up, a bit startled. His fear didn't die down when he recognized Jetstorm.

"Ah…the little Elite Guard officer. Must be the youngest recruit ever to get in the ranks so quickly, huh? The younger you are, the better the warranty on your parts, that's what I always say." He noticed Jetstorm's growing anger, and he slowly backed away from Jetfire "Let's see, you pin me as the type of `bot that doesn't need a real big artillery show during battle, am I right? Well, let me say this is your lucky orbital cycle, because I happen to have in stock a very rare and-" He was interrupted by a blast of air in his direction. He quickly transformed into his vehicle mode and began to drive off, trying to escape. This didn't work out well, as Jetstorm quickly caught up using wind to propel him forward. He stood in front of the Decepticon, forcing him to stop.

"Give me that back." Jetstorm ordered. The `con returned to robot mode with a look of fake-surprise on his faceplate.

"What back? I'm not sure what you're talking about…" He opened the compartment in his chestplate where Jetstorm had previously seen him hide Jetfire's parts and stuck his servo in. When he lifted it out it was empty, "See? Nothing there. Unless you are indeed interested in the one-and-only Quantum Particle-" His pitch was once more interrupted by Jetstorm, this time lunging at the `con and getting his servos around his neck. "I-I see that you aren't interested…" He smiled nervously.

"Give me back my brother's parts." The `cons started to shake his head but stopped when Jetstorm tightened his hold.

"Oh! You were referring to _those_ parts." He exclaimed, and then he pouted, "You know, they aren't doing any good to anybot just sitting there in that shell. If I could sell them to a `bot who really needed them, then it could make their life better…"

"You must be thinking I am very stupid. If you don't give up parts in five nanoclicks, I'll fling you into that building." He motioned with his head.

"Come on, it was just his memory circuits and his internal processor. He won't need those where he's-" Jetstorm tightened his hold further, "Alright, alright. But I expect some compensation."

"You vill be glad to leave vith your life." Jetstorm was a bit surprised about how intimidating he was. And how cold.

"Yowch. Wrong orbital cycle to mess with you, huh?" He dug around in his compartment, reaching over Jetstorm's servos, and took out the parts. He gingerly tossed them on the ground. "There. Now can I go? I have some very important business to take care of in Quintessa and…" He was released from his hold and he sighed in relief, "That's better. Now, you sure you don't want to at least see the latest…?" Jetstorm picked up the parts and glared at the `con, which shut him up. "I'll be leaving then. Call up ol' Swindle whenever you need anything, okay?"

He didn't wait for a reply. As quickly as he was there he transformed and drove off.

_Good riddance_. Jetstorm thought, but then stopped. He looked at his brother's parts in his hands and sighed. It really hadn't been worth all that malice to get these parts, and yet he had done it willingly. Jetfire would not be proud.

He trudged back over to Jetfire and laid the parts in his chestplate, not knowing exactly where they went. He didn't care. He was all together in his book.

Now what? All he felt was rage and sadness. He didn't want to live this way. Jetfire wouldn't want him to live this way. He looked solemnly at his brother's faded shell. _I wasn't worth saving…_

He lay down next to his brother and grabbed his left servo.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered. He had heard it was possible to extinguish your own spark. He figured it was good enough to try. Wherever Jetfire was, he wanted to be as well. He closed his viz scanners and willed his spark offline.

It was finished.

* * *

Perceptor and Wheeljack stared blankly at the screen in front of them, barely believing their viz scanners.

"That…was not what I expected at all…" Wheeljack finally broke the silence. Perceptor agreed with a nod, then commenced removing the sensors from his head.

As he popped the last suction cup off, he looked sadly at the two `bots lying motionless on the examining table. Attached to their heads were sensors, just like him except much more. Their servos were bolted to the table to prevent injury. And, unlike their counterparts on the screen, they were online.

"We should wipe their memory core quickly in order to remove emotional damage." Perceptor suggested.

"That sounds like a plan. I'll start a memory wipe right away." Wheeljack began typing vigorously on the keyboard in front of him. He left his sensors on, most likely because they looked funny on him. Perceptor rolled his viz scanners. "But seriously, who could have expected that? I mean…I'm just glad they won't remember it…"

"Won't remember what, Wheeljack?" A voice asked from behind. Sentinel Prime stepped into the lab with a haughty stride. Perceptor groaned inwardly. Wheeljack slammed his faceplate to his servo. They were in for a show now. The `bot quickly saw the twins lying on the table and almost screamed, "What are you doing to my junior officers!?" He turned and saw Wheeljack, "And what is on your head!?"

"Please, stop asking questions." Wheeljack sighed, "and we'll explain it all, _won't_ we, Perceptor?" He motioned for him to take it over.

"Certainly. Sentinel, what you see before you is state-of-the-art technology that we developed shortly after the…incident in the combat simulation room," He cringed in remembering. The two `bots he had helped to create, his 'sons' in organic terms, were going to destroy themselves with their new environmental powers in the simulation they were in without even knowing it. And it was because of the Starscream code he had formatted. The code that he had been unable to control. "They are in a stasis-mode. Completely unconscious. In stasis dreams `bots have been shown to react just as they would if they were awake. When they are hooked up to this machine, we have control of their dream environment."

"And so you decided to test this on my `bots without my permission?" Sentinel was growing angrier every nanoclick.

"Actually, no. Ultra Magnus gave us permission to do this before…well, before you know what happened…." Wheeljack explained. Sentinel stiffened at the reference of their leader.

"Okay then, so why are you hooked up to this machine as well?" He waved his servo at Wheeljack.

"Thanks to the Decepticon code that you provided us, we were able to create…puppets as you may say of Decepticons that they have had contact with before." Perceptor replied.

"We got to control their motions and their speech! It was really cool! Except we had to research the `cons so that we would act normal. If we didn't act normal, they would suspect it wasn't real and might wake up." Wheeljack informed excitedly, "But we could only control two at a time, so that itself was a bit odd. They never caught on though! I got to play as funniest `cons and…" Perceptor gave him a look that told him to shut his mouth.

"Yes, Wheeljack is correct. Most of the 'normality' of the Decepticons, such as speech and personality, were filled in by Jetfire and Jetstorm's memory core." Perceptor translated Wheeljack's babble. "After we sent the twins on their first mission, Wheeljack brought up an issue we had considered already; if they were altered by Decepticon code, would they inherit murderous traits and anger? The only way to find out without putting them in a situation where they would actually revert to Decepticon nature was a simulation. We decided to use a stasis-type simulation so that we wouldn't have results like…last time."

"And what was the result of this…test?"

"We're wiping their memory core as we speak." Wheeljack answered before Perceptor could speak. He wasn't keen on the idea of Sentinel knowing they were wiping their cores at the moment. He was already worked up and that would just push him over the edge. Unfortunately, he couldn't control Wheeljack's big mouth.

"You are _what_!?" Sentinel was incredulous.

"Calm down, Sentinel." Perceptor tried to keep himself calm as well. The `bot just wouldn't stop asking questions and let them explain.

"That's Sentinel _Magnus_ to you, Perceptor." He replied with a servo pointed towards his faceplate.

"Last time I checked, you were still a 'Prime'." Wheeljack smirked. Sentinel panicked.

"Well yes, but I will succeed Ultra Magnus once he…uh…you know…" His faceplate grew red as he realized what he was saying.

"Anyways, the test ran smoothly. The results were just…unexpected." He looked nervously at Wheeljack.

"Go on." Sentinel insisted.

"We put them in a situation similar to when they were in the simulation. We had inferred that Jetfire had carried some…emotional damage from that time around. In fact, I now wonder whether he has a pathological fear of Starscream because of it. There was evidence for it and to the contrary during the test…but I digress. Since there were Starscream clones onboard the ship, we made the environment as if they had just landed and were arriving back on Cybertron. Then the Decepticons broke out of the ship. We made the first two rather easy to defeat."

"Actually, they defeated themselves. That was my idea." Wheeljack smiled proudly.

"And then we focused on the Starscream clones. We tuned up the strength on the one facing Jetstorm so that he would overcome him easily and attempt to turn him offline. We were expecting some kind of Decepticon-like behavior to result from Jetfire, because of what happened in the simulation. But we found something…much different…"

"Different like how?" Sentinel asked.

"The kid let the clone offline him so that he wouldn't offline his brother." Wheeljack said. There was a silence. "Yeah, I know, completely unexpected."

"The absolute opposite behavior that a Decepticon could show. Self-sacrifice. We were going to shut off the simulation right then…but then Jetstorm reacted." Perceptor winced. It had saddened him to see the `bot in the state of discord his brother's sacrifice had left him in. He could do nothing about it. The only contact he had with him was through the suck-up Starscream clone he was controlling, and it would have been very odd if he had given condolence to Jetstorm in that manner, "He definitely displayed Decepticon behavior. I have…I have never seen an Autobot act that way. He soon recognized this change and tried to revert it…and…and then…" He stopped. His emotional attachment to the twins was too much. He couldn't speak anymore. Wheeljack noticed this and continued.

"He turned himself offline when he was unable to." Sentinel looked stunned. He knew the twins, possibly better than Perceptor because of them time spent on duty, and he didn't expect that either.

"So…what good were these tests, then?" He asked warily.

"Now we know that some Decepticon programming still resides in at least Jetstorm's structure. It is unknown of Jetfire, though at the moment it seems very unlikely. You don't see Decepticons throwing themselves off space bridges for their teammates. We also know that…the bond between the twins is far greater than we supposed. Jetfire died for Jetstorm because, as his processor revealed to us, he felt that he couldn't live without him. Jetstorm also shared similar thoughts when considering turning himself offline."

"And what good would this knowledge do?" He cocked a viz scanner. Perceptor looked back at the screen, which told them that the memory wipe was successful. They would never remember their dream.

"Look at it this way, Sentinel. Don't get them angry, and don't separate them."

* * *

**Okay. I hope you aren't confused about what happened. And I did NOT steal the dream idea from Human Error part 1 and 2. I thought of this before Predacons rising. TFA just steals my ideas XDD**

**I got to write Blitzwing, Swindle, Ramjet, Sunstorm, The twins, Perceptor, Sentinel AND Wheeljack!...oh yeah, Lugnut too! I was so happy! Dinobots, Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Wasp, Jazz, Bumblebee, Prowl and Sari got name-mentioned too! I know during the little "accent-war' between Jetfire and Blitzwing that Blitzwing has a bit of a 'v' for 'w' accent already, he's just over-enunicating for the accent war. Swindle was fun to write. I plan to do a oneshot for him soon, but it may not come up depending on upcoming episodes.**

**Okay...Perceptor. In the comic he wasn't quite as boring and annoying as in the show. I got the comic before Transwarped, and I was expecting...a different voice XD I think people hate him because of his voice, and I don't think that is quite fair. I thought it would be cute if he felt like the father-figure to the twins XD**

**Yes. I am BeexSari. Not like, overly fangirly, but ever since she upgraded to Teen I think they look cute together XD And I read a fanfiction where Jetfire liked Sari, which is where I got that first part from. I don't remember who wrote it or what it was called, but it wasn't my idea, so I'm giving them credit. I do think though, since they are young teens, that they probably would feel a bit of attraction. And I mean, they had to see her, because she was apparentally fine in Human Error part 1. She just like, decided to have NO air time.**

**I hate Lugnut. He's such a fanboy. So I didn't write much about him XD**

**Okay, well, PLEASE REVIEW**


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